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Croatia Adopts Open Source Policy
lisah writes "Croatia says that concerns over the expense and limitations of proprietary software led to last month's decision to adopt a free and open source software policy within Croatia's government. Officials say the move will make the government's work more transparent as well as help to better manage its operating costs. Taking it a step further, under the new policy the government will also support the use of open source in schools, saying, 'both closed and open source solutions will be equally presented to students.' Vlatko Kosturjak, president of the Croatian Linux User Group, is unmoved. Citing the practical and technical difficulties of embracing open source on such a broad scale, he says until the policy is actually implemented, '[it] is just like an unsent letter.'"
...Beautiful place, Croatia, and some smart people from the area. Think Nikola Tesla (a real border-spanner) and all those lovely cool rivers for Penguins to swim in.
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
Translation: We can't spy on you as easily with closed applications that we can't modify to include auto-reporting, screenshot captures, web-logs, etc. Well, not without adding something like logging software.
The governments' mum confirmed it has lost its job and is moving back into the basement.
liqbase
Go Vlatko! Inist upon a real commitment to open source, not just lip service. (this is russ; not able to log in while in India)
Vlatko Kosturjak, president of the Croatian Linux User Group, is unmoved. Citing the practical and technical difficulties of embracing open source on such a broad scale
You sure this guy isn't the president of the Croatian Microsoft User Group?
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
In a month Microsoft will be offering them a fantastic licensing deal and like other countries that "decided" to use open source, they'll likely change their course.
I think government all around the world should adopt similar policies.
1. Governamental software is usualy specialized, so they had to pay for the whole development. Now they can build uppon OSS saving money.
2. The development will probably be made by locals. Creating more programmers there, and more business based on OSS (support, custom development, etc).
3. They will have full control of what there softwares do. No more hidden calls home by proprietary software.
4. Security will probably be better: security by secret is the worst kind.
My only question is... Why only there? Why don't other nations use similar policies? Why they keep buying from foreign companies instead of using OSS?
Ah, Croatia, one of the best kept secrets. The blonde, blue-eyed women are among the tallest in the world. Nude beaches on the Adriatic Sea. Almost everyone speaks English as a second language (knowing Croatian of course will get you further, but you can pick that up over time). Everything is cheap. And now, open source.
Any mention of armies in the context of the Balkans worries me.
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
(+5 WTF) even the mods don't know what to make of such an overwhelming post.
Want proof that he was no Croat, but a Serb? His father was a Greek Orthodox priest!
By the way I am no Orthodox(Serb) nor a Catholic(Croat), but an atheist of Lutheran ancestry. I DO KNOW, however that between and Orthodox(Serb) and a Catholic(Croat), there is a HUGE difference.
Gee, I can't imagine you aren't the first to think of that...
Don't you think MANY have already "spied" on (cough) Windows?
Been there, done that.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Lithuanian women are the tallest, followed by the women from some Scandinavian country (I do not remember which one, either Iceland or Sweden). Croatia (and other Balkan countries, Greece, Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria, etc) are way behind, they are not even in the top ten.
Remember, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia ARE LOVED by the West and Serbia and Macedonia ARE HATED. It is much more likely that Croatia will get help from Microsoft to spy on Serbia, not vice versa.
Serbia is like Lebanon and Croatia like Israel.
Ummm...you might want to look closely at that mod number again. It's a fake, imbedded in the title
linux and the GPL == Communism.
Support America, use OS X or if you can't afford it, Windows.
North Korea adopts its own open source policy, allowing modification and perusal of its extensive nuclear weapons systems. "Communists share everything," say top officials in the country.
The heavens do not fall for such a trifle.
They are in debt and are spending to much. They don't have any money. They spend 19 billion and only bring in 17 billion. The Republic of Croatia is looking to cut expenses. Though, it should be easier to cut 2 billion in expenses compared to 200 billion USA needs to cut.
And in case if any slashdotters wants to move there.
Croatia has GDP of $35 billion and $11,000 per capita. Unemployment is 18% compared to USA's 4.6%. Croatia is also mostly Catholic with only 1.3% is muslim as of 2001.
If you want to congratulate the government. You can contact them through Ambassador Neven JURICA at 2343 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008. Phone is 202-588-5899
More information available at your local CIA office.
\
no big deal, more like PR stunt paid by some PR agency.
They may cut operating costs by using free software, which is an admirable effort for taxpayers, but they might also inadvertently discourage software development, since there is a smaller customer base and profit motive for programmers. Programmers here in the US are making six-digit salaries; I don't know if they would be willing to give that up or go through the education again to design free software or innovate. Also, highly specialized programs designed for military or tax purposes and such may be more efficiently written by a company with a well-financed R&D department; in these cases, closed-source would be a better choice, or at least an edited (built-upon) open-source.
Also, I'm not sure how open-source encourages "transparency" in government, unless it's open-source as a general concept. I've always thought "transparency" = meeting minutes, financial reports, budgets, salaries, city plans, etc. open to public, and the programs used to achieve those ends are of limited significance.
Interesting point. Objectively, is FOSS internationalized more promptly and to a higher standard than closed-source software?
Hi all! As a Croat I just had to post something to clarify... Croatia is a young country, and therefore we had to build our IT program infrastructure from close to nothing, meaning not many legacy problems. Being a small country (for a great holiday:) ), changes to this type of things is easier that applying the same to the US - imagine having to teach all the employees new tricks or worse new programs. Croatia has had a very long tradition of unix, and later linux usage. Our academic network http://www.carnet.hr/ is a long time promoter of OSS. All universities in Croatia run a Debian distro modified to suit every need of the students, teachers,... And new trends are constantly implemented. The same program is offered to secondary schools (and in a small extent to primary schools). Croatia has created an office for implementing new technologies called eHrvatska http://www.e-hrvatska.hr/ and they have been working on it for some 2-3 years now. At first there was no sign of actitity from them, but in the last year they brought to the public a series of interesting services nationwide (eVAT, eLearning, e), digitizing courts, land-ownership books,... Croatia was one of the first countries to include Digital signature into its legislation, opening the way for eBusiness and eGovernment. Even The head of Croatian Linux User Community is sceptical because Croatia has a deal with Microsoft for supplying MS software for all government needs, but it has become clear the money just leaves the country without any intent to come back. Making a WinXP and Office localization was a nice gesture, but nothing more. We have smart people, good programmers with great ideas making software for foreign countries. Why not earn some money at home by making software for home... I personally don't care if the move is made because of money issues, creating a software demand will mean jobs for programmers, and better service for citizens.
Here are some insider informations.
In the beginning, there was Dr. Mauher, a man who opposed any open source policy in government. He initiated legalization wave for some 12.000 computers used troughout the Croatian government. However, what he did is to negotiate infamous "subscription" model, which means that after three years, the lease is over and we would have to subscribe again. He bragged around that he made such a great deal, getting 10% of regular price discount (of Pro subscription that was mandatory on all computers) on that... I belive, there were at least some 0.003% of people who fully utilised Office Pro version.
Then, the government had changed (to right-wing party). Mr. Kovacic took over the office. What he did, however, (it was 2 years ago) was to change that policy and negotiate for a license model that allows government to retain the right to use the software after the three-year period is over. That, and substantialy higher discount rate.
All this means that yes, this model probably is another method of pushing Microsoft to give greater discounts, but it does have two other effects:
1. there's a number of Linux servers in government bodies, installed there half-legally by admins who had to find a solution to a problem using zero budget. This move legalized that servers and gave admins good argument for using more Linux servers in the environment.
2. It was impossible for open source companies to bid on government-issued tenders even for small tasks, for most bureaucrats would simply reject any such offer because it doesn't use Microsoft software, and is not a widely recognized company such as IBM or Oracle...
We have to keep in mind that this paper doesn't force anyone to use FLOSS, but it encourages them to look at it as an alternative. That, and very possible inclusion of new policy, one that makes local bodies pay for software licences themselves, instead of paying all licences from state budget, might fuel transition.
There's incentive to make Open Document Format sort of mandatory for communication with citizens, as well. But, we'll have to wait and see.
Oh, and there's another catch - the document doesn't mention open source as pure FLOSS - it states that it is perfectly Ok to buy commercial solution as long as you get the source code with that.
Which, in theory, means they could buy MS Vista, sign some NDA and get the source code. You can't do much with that code, can you? On the other hand, there's a plethora of custom built applications and I've witnessed of many problems that arose in local bodies because people who sold that crap thought they can pull their customer around. Having source code is a good way to ensure that no-one could really lock you in. That might, however, discourage some local companies from deploying their solutions, because they don't want anyone to see their source code, and they probably have a good reason for that.
That's all great, I wish our country did this (Bosnia) but they rather took Bill Gates letter of congrats and chose windows. But hey we're a hole country.Croatia is really getting there, somehwere. Just dont embrace it just much as, most tall girs and etc... I mean those are just WTF comments.
"For the same reason Macedonians struggle hard to look different than Greeks: unfortunate historical reasons. :-)"
That should not be too hard. Macedonians are Slavs, which are somewhat different from the Greeks.
Where were you when the voynix came?
"when I was in Dalmatia Croatian women looked more Turkish then anything else"
I know, but it is pretty hard to get past all the spots. And when they try to introduce you to all 100 of their siblings.
Where were you when the voynix came?
Dr. Luka Kovac should be happy.
What's going on with the lame, unenthusiastic response by that Vlatko Kosturjak guy, president of the Croatian Linux User Group ?
Yeah, I can imagine it might be difficult to do the transition on a large setting. So ???? Difficult doesn't mean hopeless, but that's sure how his response was. Shouldn't he be rolling up his sleeves and maybe offer resources, instead of just sitting back and making unhelpful, aloof statements like that ?
Maybe he has had bad experiences with his govt's hot air statements. Who knows ? However, you can't win *anything* with a bad attitude like that. If that's the sort of "look down", "prove it to me" attitude of the friggin' *President* of the Linux User Group, I would run 100 miles the other way. A new adopter, even if it's the government, is not supposed to be made feel that they have to *prove* anything. If anything it should be Vlatko and his cohorts making clear that they are ready to *serve* and help any new adopters. But again, I don't have enough context to know what's going on there. I think that whole *serving* concept is completely over Vlatko's head. I wouldn't be surprised if a private corporation with inferior product but better attitude gets in there, then.
The statistics seems rather arbitrary, though.
"...to keep things efficent and Open. Open Source, Open Society."
;)
Yeah, I hope they force Crytek to publish the Crysis code open source too!
No. Croatia is not like Israel. Croatia did not attack Serbia.
Glad to hear Croatia's government adopeted an open source software policy. I myself have adopted an open source policy for my novel about Croatia's breakup from Yugolavia called Under the Oak Tree. I have posted the first five chapters at http://lovcroatia.blogspot.com/ and will be adding a new chapter every week.